Review

Gerard O’Donovan - Daily Telegraph UK, 13th December 2001

“… But Knowledge is not limited to BBC programs. One of its best innovations has been the regular showings of foreign-made documentaries in the Storyville strand. One such was last night’s Vision Man, a superb piece made for Swedish TV by director William Long. Simple yet very powerful, it was filmed in the Arctic wastes of northwest-Greenland and featured just one man, Utiuniarsuak Avike, an 87-year-old Inuit cheerfully recalling his former life as a hunter. What started as an oldster rambling on about past glories – triumphs over seal, walrus and polar bear – became an absorbing, evocative meditation on how the Inuit people’s ancient relationship with nature has been pulled apart by modernity in just one generation. This was television at its most beautiful (astonishing how many shades of white a camera can reveal), raw and human. It’s not often you can say that these days. ”

VISION MAN  

by  William Long


'A fundamental difference between our culture and Inuit culture, which can be felt even today in certain situations, is that we have irrevocably separated ourselves from the world that animals occupy. We have turned all animals and elements of the natural world into objects. We manipulate them to serve the complicated ends of our own destiny. The Inuit do not grasp this separation easily, and have difficulty imagining themselves entirely removed from the world of animals. For many of them, to make this separation is analogous to cutting oneself off from light or water. It is hard to imagine how to do it.'      Barry Lopez


 

Arctic NW Greenland / documentary / Super16 film to 35mm / 52min / 1998

Awards

Best of Festival Grand Teton Award - Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, Wyoming, USA
Panda Award Delegates choice - Wildscreen Film Festival, Bristol, England
Panda Award  Human & Animal Category -  Wildscreen Film Festival, Bristol, England
Panda Nomination for Music & Sound  -  Wildscreen Film Festival, Bristol, England
IDFA Audience Award  -  International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
Nordic Documentary of the Year - Nordic Panorama, Helsingfors, Finland
Ikaros Prize - Documentary of the year Swedish Television, Sweden
Bronze Award - Hanam World Environment, Seoul, Korea
Best of Festival - Banff Film Mountain Festival, Canada
Jury Special Award - International Film Festival, Autrans, France
Grand Prix - International Festival of Nature Films, Wizna, Pologne
Outstanding Humanity Award - Alpine Film Festival, New York, USA
Grand Prix - International Film Festival Premio Alp / Cervino, Torino, Italy
Best of Festival - Wildlife Europe, Sweden
Audience Award - International Film Festival, Tromsø, Norway
Best of Festival 3rd place - Int.Film Festival, Tromsø, Norway
Jury Special Award - It´s all true, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Best of festival runner up - International Wildlife Film Festival Montana, USA
Best Sound mix - International Wildlife Film Festival Montana, USA
Best use of music, Finalist - International Wildlife Film Festival Montana, USA
Best of category Human Dimensions - International Wildlife Film Festival Montana, USA
Merit Award for Use of Humor- International Wildlife Film Festival Montana, USA
Merit Award for Presentation of Wildlife Cultural Interrelationships - International Wildlife Film Festival, Montana, USA
The Golden Spire Award - International Film Festival, San Francisco, USA
Audience Award runner up -  International Film Festival, Sydney, Australia
Grand Prix - International Etnological Film Festival, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Directors Award - Festival de Filmes, Aubervilliers, France
Best Documentary Award - Festival de Filmes, Aubervilliers, France
Special Award Documania International Environmental Film Festival, Gava, Spain
Best Artistic Achievment Award - Ökomedia, Freiburg, Germany
Best Human Award - Mountain Film, Telluride, Colorado, USA            
Best Documentary - National Spotlight Programme Hot Docs Canadian Int Documentary Festival

RETURN OF THE LIGHT  

Director: William Long

Swedish Television & Danish Television DR

Arctic Svalbard / documentary / S-16 film / 52min / 1992


A QUESTION OF LIFE  

Director: William Long

Australia / documentary / 16 film / 15min / 1986


SIGNS OF SPRING  

Director: William Long

Sweden / documentary / 16 film / 5min / 1985